


been searching for a trail to follow (again)

by hollyhobbit101



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slightly To The Left Of Canon, alternate look at season one through carlos's eyes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:28:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28392411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyhobbit101/pseuds/hollyhobbit101
Summary: Rachel’s got that look on her face when Carlos walks into the precinct at the start of his shift."So," she says, perching on the seat next to his desk. "Banged that hot firefighter yet?"orseason one, but it's carlos's turn.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 6
Kudos: 137
Collections: 911 Gift Exchange 2020





	been searching for a trail to follow (again)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [curlyhairedgirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curlyhairedgirl/gifts).



> Happy holidays, Vic! I hope you enjoy this, and that you have a wonderful New Year!
> 
> title from the night we met by lord huron

Rachel’s got that look on her face when Carlos walks into the precinct at the start of his shift. He tries to avoid her by heading straight to his desk and refusing to even so much as look in her direction, but that backfires spectacularly when she follows him, sliding into the chair usually reserved for people he’s processing.

“Don’t you have work to do?” he asks, still not looking over.

“Work’s overrated,” she says. “This is much more fun.”

“Don’t let the captain hear you say that.”   
  


“The captain would agree with me.”

Carlos does look over then, shooting her an unimpressed glance. She grins and wiggles her eyebrows. “Banged that hot firefighter yet?”

He sighs and turns away, pointedly grabbing the first file he can lay his hands on. It’s more for show than anything and Rachel clearly knows it, but she’s kind enough to let him keep up the charade for a fairly literal second.

“C’mon, Carlos,” she wheedles. “We’re partners, you can tell me anything.”

“I could,” he acknowledges, “if I didn’t mind it getting spread around the precinct within an hour.”

She gasps in mock outrage. “You wound me, Reyes! I would  _ never.” _

“You’re right. It’d be less.”

He stands and slides past her towards the little kitchenette. If he’s going to have to have this conversation, he needs coffee.

Rachel leans against the counter, folding her arms. “Are you seriously going to pretend? Everyone can see you like him.”

_ That  _ makes him pause. “Everyone?” he asks uncertainly, half turning towards her.

“So you admit it?” he says, glee evident in her tone.

“What?” Carlos splutters. “No, I- TK and I are just friends - not even that, really - and I don’t like him - I  _ don’t _ \- so you can just - oh, forget it.”

He’s painfully aware of Rachel’s amused gaze on him as he heads back to his desk, coffee forgotten. His cheeks flame a bright red as he eyes up the rest of the precinct, wondering just how many of them are in on the joke.

“Come back to me when you’ve stopped lying to yourself,” Rachel says, breezing past him.

“Just drop it,” he says wearily.

  
Rachel holds her hands up. “Consider it dropped.”

* * *

Rachel does not, in fact, drop it. She does the exact opposite, needling him almost every time they’re out on patrol together. Credit where it’s due, she does know when to ease off, but, between her and Michelle, it’s starting to get to Carlos.

The thing is, it’s not like she’s wrong. Carlos would be lying to himself if he said he isn’t interested (he’s got  _ eyes _ ) and, yes, he and TK have hooked up once or twice (which was, frankly, the best sex Carlos has ever had), but that was before.

Carlos is a patient man, but he has his limits, and he’s just about reached them with TK Strand. He’s aloof, arrogant, reckless, and he seems allergic to any deeper intimacy than a casual fling. Carlos gets it, sort of, but he wants a relationship that means something. TK, clearly, doesn’t.

Which - fine. If that’s the way he wants to play it, then so be it. Carlos is perfectly okay with that.

(he’s lying and he knows it. he can’t deny the space tk has claimed in his head, or in his heart.)

* * *

_ ‘I have to talk to you’ _

The text comes through while Carlos is on shift, so he doesn’t pick it up until hours later, when it no longer matters. They see each other at a scene that night, eyes locking as TK walks into the house Carlos has just vacated. There’s something strange in TK’s gaze, but Carlos can’t quite put his finger on what. 

Not that it matters. TK gets shot, and Carlos…

Carlos doesn’t know what to do.

* * *

It’s days before TK wakes, during which Carlos sheds an embarrassing amount of tears and Rachel doesn’t rib him about it even once. 

He tries to focus on his job, but his thoughts keep drifting back to TK, still and silent in that hospital bed. He doesn’t visit but that first time, the sight being too painful for him to want to deal with. 

Even when he does wake up… Carlos only hears about that through the grapevine at first. It’s weird. Part of him desperately wants to see TK, and the other part wants to forget him. They were never really anything anyway, and Carlos isn’t exactly hopeful of something in the future. So… 

So.

But then his phone dings again.

_ ‘I need to talk to you.’ _

* * *

They don’t get a chance to talk again, not in any real way, because TK’s babbling about boba and Billie Eilish, and the world nearly ends, and everything’s falling apart, and -

* * *

That night, he and TK take a drive. They lie on the hood of his car in silence, for the most part, and Carlos feels at peace. For the first time in months, he feels like he knows where they stand. And that… That means a lot.

“I need you to do something for me,” TK says quietly, eyes on the sky.

Carlos tilts his head towards him. “Anything,” he murmurs.

TK is quiet for a long time before taking a deep, shuddering breath and turning his face towards Carlos. “Ask me to stay.”

“What do you mean?” Carlos frowns, trying to tamp down the slight panic those words have inspired in him.

“Nothing, I… Just ask me?” TK’s eyes are wide and pleading, and Carlos knows in that instant that he couldn’t refuse him anything.

“Stay.”

In lieu of an answer, TK kisses him, and Carlos knows that they’re going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you guys for reading! find me on tumblr @morganaspendragonss!


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